Hawks lack punch(es) in loss

May 06, 2007|CURT RALLO Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- On a night when the South Bend Silver Hawks lacked punch for most of the game, they nearly had to deal with a different kind of punch in the ninth inning. Benches cleared twice in the top of the ninth when South Bend pitcher Ramon Sanchez hit a pair of Wisconsin batters following a home-plate collision in which South Bend catcher Richard Mercado was roughed up. Peace ended up prevailing after nearly 10 minutes of heated discussion, and the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers also ended up prevailing by a 3-2 count over the Silver Hawks in minor-league baseball action Saturday night. Wisconsin, a Seattle Mariners' affiliate, won just its fifth game of the season against 20 losses. South Bend, an Arizona Diamondbacks' farm team, dropped to 11-15. Tempers flared in the top of the ninth inning when Sanchez beaned Greg Halman right after Mercado took a linebacker's hit from Gavin Dickey on a play at the plate. Benches cleared after Halman was hit, but a full-throttle brawl didn't break out. After umpires warned both benches, Sanchez then hit the next batter, Carlos Truinfel, and the benches cleared a second time. After the umpires regained control, Sanchez and manager Mark Haley were ejected. "We weren't hitting them on purpose," said Haley, who added that he felt the hit on Mercado was clean. "Sanchez has a history where he gets excited, then he starts to overthrow, and when he does that, he misses to armside. When the emotions get high, then he tries to throw it by people, it starts to miss armside. It was one of those deals ... it didn't look good because our catcher got RATTLERS 3, HAWKS 2 WISCONSIN SOUTH BEND ab r h bi ab r h bi Halman cf 4 0 0 0 Perales lf 4 0 2 0 Triunfel ss 4 0 0 0 Side cf 3 0 0 0 Santin c 5 1 1 0 Parra rf 4 0 2 0 Hargrove 1b 4 1 1 1 Miller 1b 4 0 1 0 Peguero dh 3 0 1 0 Curreri dh 2 2 0 0 Bonilla 3b 4 0 2 0 McFely 3b 4 0 1 0 Lo rf 3 0 1 1 Mercado c 4 0 0 1 Dickey lf 4 0 1 0 Sanchz ss 4 0 1 1 Nunez 2b 2 1 1 0 Ferrer 2b 3 0 0 0 Totals 33 3 8 2 Totals 32 2 7 2 Wisconsin 000 120 000 -- 3 South Bend 010 000 001 -- 2 E -- Truinfel, McFeely 3, Sanchez. LOB -- Wisconsin 9, South Bend 7. 2B -- Hargrove (2), Dickey (5). SAC -- Nunez. SF -- Lo. SB -- Peguero (1), Halman (13). CS -- Bonilla, Perales. IP H R ER BB SO Wisconsin Parker (W, 1-0) 6 4 1 1 2 1 Orta 2 2 0 0 0 3 Barb (S, 2) 1 1 1 0 1 1 South Bend Anderson (L, 3-3) 5 6 3 2 0 5 Butler 2 1 0 0 1 3 Perez 1 0 0 0 1 1 Sanchez 1 1 0 0 0 0 WP -- Parker, Anderson, Perez. HBP -- Side (Orta), Halman (Sanchez), Truinfel (Sanchez). U -- Ike Boykins and Patrick Barbour. T -- 2:45. A -- 1,091. run over, and I went out to see if he was fine, then Sanchez hits the next two batters. It's unfortunate that it ended up like that, and their guys perceived it a certain way, but on the receiving end, if you're getting hit, it looks bad. It's unfortunate that they perceived it that way." Wisconsin manager Jim Horner didn't want to discuss the ninth-inning emotions. South Bend rallied in the bottom of the ninth inning to close to 3-2. Frank Curreri walked and advanced when Shea McFeely reached on an error by Wisconsin shortstop Truinfel. Curreri scored on a two-out infield single by Yunesky Sanchez. Wisconsin reliever Andrew Barb then got Manny Ferrer to ground out for the final out to stop the Hawks' comeback. "It wasn't a very well-played game by us," Haley said. "There were a lot of errors (three), and we fell into where we won 9-1 the night before and we thought we'd go out and put up a nine-spot again. Those guys over there (Wisconsin) are young and enthusiastic and they go after it, and we thought we'd just go out there and hand it to them again. Today, we learned a lesson. You better go out there and execute every pitch, every at bat, every inning and try to win every inning, because nobody is going to lay over for you." South Bend pitcher Brett Anderson looked strong early, gunning down nine of the 10 Wisconsin batters he faced in the first three innings. But the Timber Rattlers struck back in the fourth and fifth innings to wipe out a 1-0 South Bend lead. Wisconsin's Andy Hargrove reached on a error by Hawks' third baseman McFeely, advanced on singles by Carlos Peguero and Leury Bonilla and scored on a sacrifice fly by Kuo Hi Lo. Luis Nunez and Danny Santin scored in the fifth inning for the Timber Rattlers, with Hargrove's double the big blast in the inning.Staff writer Curt Rallo: crallo@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6152